"Guess [Ryan Kerrigan] really does have a good motor. And is relentless. And never quits on a play. And just keeps coming. And probably eats Wheaties and drinks Apple Pie smoothies and shaves with Valvoline." -Dan Steinberg DC Sports Bog

the entire signing bonus(SB) counts. player salary counts only if hes still with the team.

ex. player A signs a 5 year, 10 million dollar deal. to keep it simple, its a 5 mil SB, with 1 mil a year salary. the signing bonus is pro rated over the term of the deal... 5 mil divided by 5 years = 1 mil a year. then add player A's salary for the first year, and you get a 2 mil cap hit. (1 mil for the bonus, and 1 mil for the salary) years 2,3,4 & 5 will be the same, a 2 mil cap hit.(this is usually not the way it works, because real contracts usually start with a small salary at the begining, and increase over time, but i'm trying to keep it simple here ) now, lets say that player A gets cut after his 3rd year. 3 mil has been paid of the signing bonus. that leaves 2 mil for each remaining year on the deal. since the player is cut, he will not get the remaining salary on the deal... 1 mil a year for 2 years, but since the team has already paid the SB of 5 mil, that does count. 3 mil has been paid, so the team will have 2 mil in dead money, which can be split into 2 years if the player is released after june 1st.

That answers a lot of questions, namely why June 1st is such a special date. All I really know about the cap I learned from Madden, haha.

Anyway, I have a follow up question.

Is a signing bonus paid directly to the player as one large lump sum after the contract is signed but pro rated over the course of the contract for cap purposes? Or is it paid out year by year?

"Guess [Ryan Kerrigan] really does have a good motor. And is relentless. And never quits on a play. And just keeps coming. And probably eats Wheaties and drinks Apple Pie smoothies and shaves with Valvoline." -Dan Steinberg DC Sports Bog

Skinsfan55 wrote:That answers a lot of questions, namely why June 1st is such a special date. All I really know about the cap I learned from Madden, haha.

Anyway, I have a follow up question.

Is a signing bonus paid directly to the player as one large lump sum after the contract is signed but pro rated over the course of the contract for cap purposes? Or is it paid out year by year?

Actually, it USED TO BE that these amounts were paid up front, but now in reality, payment 'schedules' are often made. But it has no bearing to the cap implications and you got it ostensibly right the first time in that the signing bonus amount IS pro-rated over the length of the contract.

So... get a 10M signing bonus on a 5 year contract.... the cap hit is 2m a year for the signing bonus and then of course add whatever the annual salary for that year is.

How is the cap effected if a player is released and later rejoin the Team

Do we get this space back……it’s not a lot but any space is better than none

If you could get it back, it wouldn't be deemed 'dead cap'.... dead cap is EXACTLY that... money you owe for contracts where the player is no longer under that contract. This money is owed to our cap space because this represents the amount of guaranteed bonus money that that player had on their contract... and therefore, we still have to pay it cap-wise.

In the cases where the players are listed as dead space AND they are still playing for the Redskins... they are players that were under contract but then were released and then re-signed. Their money is completely negligible though in the broad scheme of things and it is comical to see it in terms of 'millions'. Here are the players that pertains to: